Radio: Review of the AFI Digital Content Lab's AFI DigiFest 2008

This issue contains back-to-back recorded episodes of [itvt]'s talk radio show, "The TV of Tomorrow Show with Tracy Swedlow," devoted to the latest crop of interactive media prototypes from the American Film Institute Digital Content Lab, and to the AFI DigiFest 2008 event that the Digital Content Lab organized earlier this month in Los Angeles.

Topics discussed include "Warped Roadie," "The Fact Project," "Viewing Party" and the other AFI DCL prototypes that were showcased on day one of the DigiFest; "Gone Gitmo" and the other third-party interactive digital media projects that were showcased on day two of the DigiFest; the overall goals of the AFI DCL and the DigiFest; and more.

The guests for the first episode are:

• Philippe Cousteau (bio), co-founder, president and CEO of EarthEcho International ("Warped Roadie").
• Yaoshiang "Yaosh" Ho (bio), director of worldwide digital media at MGM Studios ("The Fact Project").
• Lisa Osborne (bio), supervising producer at the AFI DCL.

The guests for the second episode are:

• Chris Jacobs (bio), creative director of United Future.
• Marc Johnson (bio), director of creative services at ABC.com ("Viewing Party").
• Nonny de la Peña (bio), writer and filmmaker at Pyedog Productions ("Gone Gitmo").
• Jaime Levy Russell (bio), experience lead at HUGE.
• Lisa Osborne (bio), supervising producer at the AFI DCL.

To listen to the first episode, click here:

To listen to the second episode, click here:

Show Transcripts

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Archived Broadcasts

[itvt] is making past broadcasts of the show available on the show's homepage.

Broadcast #55 : David Verklin, CEO of Canoe Ventures--the company that is implementing Project Canoe, the US cable industry's initiative to create a national unified platform for interactive and addressable advertising--discusses the recent appointment of Arthur Orduna as Canoe Ventures' CTO; how the press has missed the significance to Project Canoe of NCC, the national cable spot sales company; why he believes that the challenges facing Canoe Ventures have more to do with marketing and communications than with technology; whether Canoe Ventures should become a consumer-facing brand; why he envisions possible collaborations between Canoe Ventures and the satellite and telco TV industries; and much, much more.

Broadcast #54 : Tom Pratt, VP of programming and product development at The Weather Channel, discusses the channel's interactive TV offerings and strategy. Topics covered include why The Weather Channel views implementing interactive TV as a high priority; the channel's commitment to ETV/EBIF and OCAP/tru2way; its applications on DISH Network and DirecTV; the infrastructure that enables those apps; and more.

Broadcast #53 : Sefy Ariely, VP of sales and marketing at IPTV middleware and applications provider, Orca Interactive, discusses some of the company's newest offerings. They include an end-to-end hybrid solution for delivering TV over the open Internet, social TV applications, and a personalization capability that makes use of fingerprint-recognition technology. Ariely also discusses Orca's new deployment in Russia, the company's roadmap for the coming year, the significance of IMS for the IPTV space, how the current economic crisis is impacting the IPTV market, and much more.

Broadcast #52 : Comcast Media Center (CMC) COO, Gary Traver, and Homer Gonzalez III, product manager for CMC's HITS AxIS offering (note: the latter, whose name stands for "Headend in the Sky Advanced Interactive Services," is a centralized platform that operates on the National Authorization System and that is billed as being designed to support developers of advanced OCAP/tru2way and ETV/EBIF interactive TV applications and to facilitate the deployment and management of those applications on cable systems serving small- to mid-sized markets), provide an overview of how HITS AxIS works and of the strategy and business model behind the platform. Topics covered include recent updates to the platform; the current state of interactive TV standards; CMC's strategic relationships with companies such as Ensequence, itaas, Softel and Vidiom and with groups such as OEDN.net; and much more.

Broadcast #51 : BIAP CTO, Aaron Ye, the company's chief scientist, Louis Slothouber, and its EVP of marketing, Dan Levinson, discuss the Plano, Texas-based interactive TV technology provider's new five-year license agreement with Time Warner Cable. Among other things, the deal will see the operator employing BIAP's ETV User Agent in its advanced advertising platform. Topics covered include the interactive and targeted advertising capabilities that the BIAP ETV User Agent will provide for Time Warner Cable; how the new deployment relates to Project Canoe, the US cable industry's initiative to enable a national platform for targeted, interactive advertising (note: BIAP's offerings include a product dubbed "Canoe in a Box"); BIAP's plans for the future; and much more.

Broadcast #50 : Peter Yared, president and CEO of iWidgets, a San Francisco-based start-up that recently unveiled its flagship iWidgets Social Syndication Platform and announced that CBS Interactive had signed up as the platform's first customer, discusses iWidgets' offerings, the company's new deal with CBS, and how the company is positioned in the broadband video and social networking spaces in general. Topics covered include how content owners can use the company's platform to add interactivity to broadband video and then syndicate the resulting assets; the company's various partnerships; its business model; how it plans to evolve its platform going forward; and much more.

Broadcast #49 : Dean Denhart, president and CEO of BlackArrow, a company that specializes in targeted advertising management technologies for on-demand platforms (note: among other things, the company recently announced that it had raised $20 million in new funding and that it had integrated its ad-management system with Akamai's Media Framework), provides an overview of the company and its positioning in the market. Topics covered include the various components that comprise the emerging market for targeted advertising; the growth in interest in targeted advertising and how that is shaping the current competitive landscape; the significance to the advertising industry of the tru2way/OCAP and ETV/EBIF standards; how BlackArrow believes its strategy differentiates it; how the company plans to use its new funding going forward; and more.

Broadcast #48 : Perry Wu, founder and CEO of BitGravity, and Angelo Fernando, communications and outreach manager at Arizona State University, discuss the new Decision Theater at ASU, which incorporates video, interactivity, graphics, and dynamic data, all enabled by BitGravity's suite of services and products. Topics covered include the concepts behind and the goals of the Decision Theater; projects that have been conducted there; BitGravity's market segment and offerings; how the company's technologies are used to power interactive video experiences; and more.

Broadcast #47 : Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo Networks, discusses the company's new deployment with Oceanic Time Warner Cable. The deployment sees ActiveVideo's platform--which features "intelligent video streaming" technology that allows interactive Web content to be delivered on TV via any digital set-top box--powering a range of interactive services for the operator, including interactive TV games from TAG Networks; home shopping from HSN (including the ability to use Web-based search and navigation to locate merchandise from HSN's online inventory and to then make purchases--all via the remote control); and news, sports and children's versions of P:Mosaic, a personalizable navigation system that ActiveVideo bills as allowing end-users to view, customize and navigate through their favorite channels "at a single glance." The platform is also being used by Oceanic Time Warner Cable to power Web-based channels featuring content specific to the Hawaiian market. Topics covered include the various services that ActiveVideo Networks is powering for Oceanic Time Warner Cable; how end-users are responding to those services; why ActiveVideo Networks is now finally gaining traction in the cable and IPTV markets; how the company plans to develop its technologies and services going forward; how it views the US cable industry's ETV/EBIF and tru2way standardization initiatives; and more.

Broadcast #46 : Richard Burrell, director of media operations at QVC UK; Dan Gardner, founder and lead interaction designer at Code and Theory; Terry Green, senior designer at TVWorks and partner at twenty2product; Sam Pemberton, CEO of the Softel Group; and Paula Suthern, SVP of sales operations at Ensequence, discuss tools for developing interactive TV applications, how those tools relate to playout systems and other technologies in the ITV production chain, and how well they are meeting the needs of designers. Topics covered include intercompatibility of tools with popular design programs such as Photoshop; the challenges designers face when working with interactive TV tools; techniques for developing applications for delivery on multiple platforms; the impact of the ETV/EBIF and tru2way standards on the process of designing ITV applications; the "politics" of application playout; and much more.

Broadcast #45 : Steve Tranter, VP of broadband and interactive delivery for NDS Americas, discusses the results of a recent survey of DVR users that NDS commissioned (note: among other things, the survey showed that US DVR owners rank the DVR as the third-most indispensable household item, behind only the washing machine and the microwave). Tranter also outlines NDS's plans for its own XTV DVR platform and discusses the future of the DVR in general; assesses the impact on the DVR industry of the recent appeals court decision in favor of Cablevision's RS-DVR service; describes how NDS is responding to the US cable industry's efforts to deploy the tru2way standard; and much more.

Broadcast #44 : Jesse Alexander, co-executive producer and writer of "Heroes"; Joe Tolerico, senior producer at NBC Universal; Mark Ryan, digital media lead producer at the Disney Channel; Marcelino Ford-Livene and David Jensen, co-governors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group; and Geoff Katz, the Interactive Media Peer Group's Awards Committee chair, discuss the winners of this year's Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: The "Heroes" Digital Experience (NBC.com) and The Disney Channel Games Digital Media Event. Topics covered include the importance of designing interactive media elements into a show from the ground up (rather than as an afterthought); the impact of interactive media experiences on viewership; successfully enabling audiences to influence a show; future projects from the winners; and more.

Broadcast #43 : A roundtable comprised of some of the most high-profile designers and design experts in the interactive TV industry--Patrick Donoghue, SVP of strategic product development at Cablevision; John Gilles, VP of media and entertainment at Method; Terry Green, principal of twenty2product; Dale Herigstad, chief creative officer at Schematic; Stephanie Otto, CEO of Brainstorm Communications; David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks; and Suzanne Stefanac, director of the American Film Institute Digital Content Lab--provide our listeners with an overview of the current state of the interactive TV design space and share their insights on what makes for good ITV design. Topics discussed include the most important things to keep in mind when designing ITV interfaces; the potential impact of gestural interfaces, such as that of the Nintendo Wii, on ITV design; how TiVo's and Apple's "game-changing" interfaces have impacted the ITV design space; the areas where the most innovation is currently taking place; the challenges of designing applications for multiple platforms; and much more.

Broadcast #42 : Microsoft TV usability engineer Michael J. Darnell, who is the event chair of uxTV 2008--a not-for-profit academic conference which is devoted to designing user experiences for TV and video and which is organized and sponsored by Microsoft TV--and David Sloo, director of user experience for Microsoft Connected TV, who is part of the team producing the event, describe how uxTV 2008 came into being; provide an overview of the event's sessions and speakers; share their own thoughts on the current state and the future of usability design; and more.

Broadcast #41 : Patrick Barry, VP of connected TV at Yahoo!'s Connected Life division, discusses the Widget Channel. The latter--a joint project between Yahoo! and Intel--is an application framework which the companies claim will allow operators, content providers, advertisers and others to develop Internet-based mini-applications, dubbed "TV Widgets," for broadband-connected TV's and other consumer electronics devices, using Web standards and tools such as JavaScript, XML, HTML and Adobe Flash. The companies--which say that the TV Widgets will, among other things, enable consumers to access Internet videos, track stocks or sports teams, interact with their friends, read news reports, find out additional information about the programs they are watching, and share content with friends and family--have unveiled a line-up of partners that are developing TV Widgets, including Blockbuster, CBS Interactive, CinemaNow, Cinequest, Comcast, Disney-ABC Television Group, eBay, GE, Group M, Joost, MTV, Samsung Electronics, Schematic, Showtime, Toshiba and Twitter.

Broadcast #40 : Dalen Harrison, CEO of Ensequence; Peter Low, president and COO of Ensequence; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; Gowri Shankar, SVP of sales and business development at SinglePoint; and Rachelle Zoffer, director of interactive TV at Verizon, discuss ongoing interactive coverage of the Beijing Olympics. Topics covered include an ETV/EBIF application which Ensequence and Verizon have developed and deployed to all subscribers of Verizon's FiOS TV service in Oregon, and which marks the first mass, commercial deployment of an ETV/EBIF app; multiscreen Olympics applications that Ensequence has developed for DISH Network; a portfolio of interactive mobile services that SinglePoint has developed for NBC; how NBC is using advertising to promote interactive services around the Olympics; and more.

Broadcast #39 : Integra5 CEO, Meredith Flynn-Ripley, discusses her company's new deployment of its flagship i5 Converged Services Platform with Canadian tier-one cable operator, Videotron, which is initially using it to power an interactive TV caller ID service for its entire subscriber base. She also discusses Integra5's new suite of social media applications, dubbed MediaFriends, which enables real-time communications and community features across TV's, PC's and mobiles. The first application in the suite, MediaFriends Chat, allows viewers to invite members of an online buddy list that they have previously set up on their PC to join a group chat on TV, and participate in the live discussion by sending SMS messages from their mobiles.

Broadcast #38 : Fred Singer, CEO of Anystream, and Russell Zack, the company's VP of product management, discuss its new partnership with NBC that sees it powering the delivery of the broadcaster's on-demand coverage of the Beijing Olympics to VOD, Web, electronic sell-through and mobile platforms. Topics covered include the capabilities of Anystream's Media Lifecycle platform; how the company is using Microsoft Silverlight to enhance the on-demand content it is delivering; the significance of the NBC Olympics project; other projects the company is involved in (including the BBC iPlayer); and more.

Broadcast #37 : Patrick Koppula, founder and CEO of ffwd--a company that recently beta-launched a service that uses social networking to facilitate Internet programming discovery and to enhance the online viewing experience--discusses the service (which is scheduled to launch commercially in September), the thinking behind it, and ffwd's plans for enhancing it in the future; recounts the events that led to his founding ffwd (he previously founded iLike.com and GarageBand.com); shares his opinions on the current state of the broadband TV industry; and more.

Broadcast #36 : In an [itvt] exclusive, members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group Primetime Emmy Awards Committee--Sanjit Das (ABC), Geoff Katz (Code and Theory), Marcelino Ford-Livene (Intel), Suzanne Stefanac (American Film Institute), and Marcia Zellers (Vendaloo)--announce the finalists for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media; discuss why this group of finalists was chosen; describe the judging process; explain why the Awards are focusing increasingly on interactive storytelling; outline significant trends they noticed among this year's entries; and much more.

Broadcast #35 : Tom Morgan, chief strategy officer of Move Networks (clients include ABC, Discovery and Fox), provides an overview of that company's technology and strategy; discusses its interest in working with CableLabs' ETV and OCAP standards; details the interactive advertising formats it is now offering; and more.

Broadcast #34 : Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow, and Tracy Swedlow discuss their picks for the most important interactive TV stories of June. Topics discussed include the significance of the tru2way MOU that was recently signed by a number of prominent cable MSO's and CE companies; UK broadcaster ITV's attempts to prevent the use of the acronyms "ITV" and "iTV" in reference to interactive television; the appointment of David Verklin to head up Canoe Ventures, the US cable industry's initiative for interactive, addressable advertising; Microsoft's acquisition of Navic Networks; and more.

Broadcast #33 : Alex Magoun, director of the David Sarnoff Library, discusses David Sarnoff's legacy; outlines parallels between the early development of television and the development of interactive TV today; describes the David Sarnoff Library's work; discusses Sarnoff's and Philo Farnsworth's respective roles in the invention of television; and more.

Broadcast #32 : Sangita Verma, co-founder and CEO of TAG Networks--a company that has developed a games-on-demand service, called TAG, that integrates with existing VOD infrastructures and supports community features and multi-device interaction--discusses the company's trial deployment of the service with Time Warner Cable in Dothan, Alabama (note: according to TAG Networks, during the first four months of the trial, which began last December, TAG achieved a 40% penetration rate among digital households, and the average playing time across digital households increased 238%); shares usage trends and demographic data from the trial; describes the company's technology and marketing strategies; explains its relationship with ActiveVideo Networks (formerly ICTV); outlines its future plans; and much more.

Broadcast #31 : Steven Roberts, SVP of new media and business development at DirecTV, and Tyler Slocum, the company's senior director of ITV and DVR services, provide an update on DirecTV's interactive TV offerings. Topics discussed include usage statistics for DirecTV's various ITV services, the company's ITV strategy, its future ITV and DVR plans, and more.

Broadcast #30 : Michael Finn, VP of advertising sales at DISH Network, and Scott Higgins, the company's director of interactive programming, discuss DISH's new interactive TV advertising deal with NBC Universal, and the company's plans to make increasing use of the DVR hard drive for its interactive TV offerings.

Broadcast #29 : Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3, provides an overview of his company--which bills itself as "an actual TV network for the Web," and which produces its own original, broadcast-quality programming. Topics discussed include funding, download numbers, revenues, demographics, distribution strategy, content strategy, advertising partnerships, new shows, and more.

Broadcast #28 : A panel of interactive TV experts--Steve Borelli, VP of marketing and business development at Integra5; industry analyst, Leslie Ellis (author of the popular Multichannel News column, "Translation Please"); Will Kreth, director of product management for interactive TV at Time Warner Cable; Alex Libkind, founder and COO of Zodiac Interactive; Mike Malcy, VP of marketing and business development at Vidiom Systems; and Gary Sohmers, chairman and president of Interactive Meet and Greet Entertainment (IMAGE)--review the 2008 NCTA Cable Show. Topics discussed include the very well-attended tru2way Developers Conference that immediately preceded the show; what the cable operators were saying about their plans to support the ETV and tru2way standards; noteworthy interactive TV applications on the show floor; the emerging popularity of social-networking ITV applications; what should have been discussed and showcased at the show, but wasn't; and much, much more.

Broadcast #27 : Richard Baker, EVP of sales and marketing at UK- based interactive TV software provider, ANT (note: Baker, who joined the company earlier this year, was previously general manager of technology products and services for the EMEA region at RealNetworks), discusses the company's new multiplatform application development strategy, its new Twitter ITV application, its new proof-of-concept EPG application which displays up to 45 channels on a single screen, the importance of developing hybrid solutions (e.g. DTT and IPTV), and much more.

Broadcast #26: Silicon Valley pundit and author, Andrew Keen ("The Cult of the Amateur"), discusses his skeptical take on user-generated content and other participatory media, why he is not a fan of the Creative Commons movement, his views on the economics of broadband video, and more.

Broadcast #25: A panel of interactive TV experts--Patrick Donoghue , VP of interactive TV product management at Time Warner Cable ; industry analyst, Leslie Ellis (author of the column, "Translation Please "); Bill Niemeyer , chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow ; David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks; and Lori Schwartz , SVP and director of the Interpublic Emerging Media Lab --and special guests, Steven Roberts , SVP of new media and business development at DirecTV, and Amy Jacobson Kurokawa , chair of the San Francisco Chapter of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), discuss their picks for the most important ITV stories of April and provide a snapshot of the current state of the industry. Topics discussed include NBC Universal's Digital Studio initiative and whether it can serve as a model for a new relationship between the advertising industry and the cable and satellite industries; the latest developments in tru2way/OCAP; and the upcoming NCTA Cable Show.

Broadcast #24: Mark Goldenson --founder and CEO of PlayCafe.com , a company which streams live, free-to-play game shows that allow viewers to play along, chat with hosts and other players, form teams, contribute questions, and win prizes (note: Ken Jennings, the holder of the record for the longest winning streak on the US game show, "Jeopardy!," recently appeared on PlayCafe.com as a special guest)--discusses the company's offering, its business model, the impact on the industry of the UK participation TV scandal, and new features the company plans to offer, including making it possible for end-users to produce their own shows.

Broadcast #23: Tim Wahlers, founder and CEO of Vidiom Systems, the company's VP marketing, Mike Malcy, its VP of engineering services, Walden Miller, and its VP of strategic initiatives, David Housman, discuss their work with the cable industry on tru2way/OCAP, describe some of the interactive TV projects they are currently engaged in, provide an overview of Vidiom's OCAP testing services, and offer a preview of the upcoming second annual tru2way Developers Conference. (Note: the conference--which is produced by the NCTA and CableLabs, and sponsored by Vidiom--will be held in New Orleans on Saturday, May 17th and Sunday, May 18th, just prior to the NCTA Cable Show. Areas of discussion will include programming, platforms, consumer electronics, application development, and retail opportunities, and the event will also feature hands-on workshops.)

Broadcast #22: James Joyce, EVP of business development at Netherlands-based international TV formats developer, 2waytraffic (note: the company is in the process of being acquired by Sony), discusses the company's participation TV formats, the challenges involved in bringing its participation TV offerings to the US market, the impact of the recent participation TV scandal in the UK, and more.

Broadcast #21: Marcelino Ford-Livene and David Jensen, co-governors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group (IMPG), and Geoff Katz, chairman of the IMPG's Primetime Emmy Awards Working Group, discuss the Academy's newly issued call for entries for the 2007-2008 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media (note: the Awards will recognize excellence in two areas of competition this year: Fiction and Non-Fiction).

Broadcast #20: Magnus Eriksson, chief development manager, and Christian Bjorkman, director of special projects at Mindark, the company behind the virtual world, Entropia Universe, discuss the interactive enhancements the company created for the Swedish television drama, "The Truth about Marika." Viewers of the show--which was recently awarded the Emmy for Best Interactive TV Service by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences--could participate by searching for clues within Entropia Universe that allowed them to solve a show-related mystery. In addition, they could interact within the virtual world with avatars of the show's main characters. Eriksson and Bjorkman also provide an in-depth overview of Entropia Universe: among other things, the virtual world has a "real cash economy," whose currency is pegged to the US dollar (at a rate of 10-1), and which allows participants to earn money.

Broadcast #19: Cathy Hetzel, president of the Advanced Media Information division at business-intelligence company, Rentrak, and her colleague, Dustin Encelewski, the company's director of technological business development, discuss recent developments with its OnDemand Essentials offering--a Web-based ASP service which measures and reports anonymous, aggregate VOD usage data, such as viewership volumes and trends, and which is intended to provide cable operators, content providers and advertisers with customizable reports designed to help them better understand viewers' VOD content preferences. They also discuss Rentrak's relationship with the cable industry, cast light on the company's future plans for its Essentials product line, discuss its competitors, and provide some interesting statistics about VOD usage that the company has gleaned over the past few months.

Broadcast #18: Gary Sohmers, president and chairman of Interactive Meet and Greet Entertainment (IMAGE), discusses his company's flagship Video Queue technology, which allows TV viewers to have face-to-face encounters with celebrities. (Note: Sohmers will probably be familiar to [itvt] readers who are also PBS viewers: he is a regular guest on the popular program, "Antiques Roadshow," where he appraises toys, collectibles and memorabilia.)

Broadcast #17: AirPlay chairman and CEO, Morgan Guenther, talks about his company's new deal with Sony Pictures Television to provide multiplayer play-along mobile gaming for the popular game show, "Jeopardy!"; about some of the other new projects the company will be undertaking this year; about its business model and its plans to scale its business; about his experiences at TiVo (where he served as president from 2001-2003); and more.

Broadcast #16: Phil Bender, CableLabs' project director for OpenCable, and Roger Brinkley, community leader for the Mobile & Embedded Community at Sun Microsystems, provide an in-depth update on the latest developments in OpenCable/OCAP/tru2way; discuss the "OpenCable Project" that recently launched on Java.net; provide a preview of CableLabs' CableNET showcase at the upcoming NCTA Cable Show; and more.

Broadcast #15: Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of peer-to-peer technology provider, BitTorrent, discusses that company's recently announced agreement with Comcast, which calls for them to work together to address infrastructural issues raised by the growing popularity of video and other rich media on the Internet. In addition, a panel of high-profile interactive TV experts--Paula Byrne, founder and managing director of Pushbutton; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks--discuss their picks for the most important ITV stories of March. Topics discussed include Navic's announcement that its Admira media placement platform now supports interactivity; UK broadcaster Five's abandonment of red-button services; Showtime Networks' launch of a range of multiplatform interactive services to support its high-profile new series, "The Tudors"; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' call for entries for its interactive Emmy awards; and much more.

Broadcast #14: Will Kreth, director of product management for interactive TV at Time Warner Cable , provides [itvt] readers/listeners with an exclusive on OEDN.net, a newly launched OCAP/EBIF developer network. He discusses, among other things, the group's resources and goals, its efforts to reach out to the Hollywood and academic communities, the current state of OCAP and EBIF development and deployment, the relationship between OCAP and Blu-ray, and much more. In addition, a panel of high-profile interactive TV experts--Patrick Donoghue, VP of ITV product management at Time Warner Cable; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks -- discuss their picks for the most important ITV stories of February. Topics discussed include new VOD technologies from SeaChange International that allow advertising to be inserted into interior program breaks and streamed video games; the emerging market for VOD games services; ESPN360's launch of HD broadband video, powered by Move Networks' technology; Ensequence's new Blu-ray Disc partnership with Sony; and much more.

Broadcast #13: A panel of interactive TV experts--Patrick Donoghue, VP of ITV product management at Time Warner Cable; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks--discuss their picks for the most important ITV stories of January. Topics discussed include CES; next-generation remote control and touchscreen technologies; the emergence of cable MSO's as broadband TV content aggregators; new technologies that bypass the traditional set-top box; CableLabs' rebranding of OCAP as "tru2way"; the future of EBIF; new data on ITV from Ensequence, Backchannelmedia and Gemstar-TV Guide; and the persistence of two-screen ITV.

Broadcast #12: Andrew Solmssen, EVP of multiplatform interactive design agency, Schematic, discusses the impact of the company's recent acquisition by advertising and marketing giant, WPP; its work on the ABC.com Full Episode Player, Starz' Vongo service, and other interactive and broadband TV projects; its work on video walls, touchscreens, "Wiimotes" (Wii remotes) and other new interactive platforms; using design to boost the efficacy of broadband video advertising and of content navigation systems; and much more.

Broadcast #11: Steve Shannon, EVP and general manager of product management at EPG developer, Gemstar-TV Guide, discusses, among other things, the company's EPG products and its product roadmap; new features that will be offered by its EPG's over the coming year; My TV Guide, its new suite of cross-platform (TV, Internet and mobile) guidance solutions; its work on social TV and programming recommendation solutions; its work--via GuideWorks, its joint-venture with Comcast--on a new, graphically rich OCAP-based EPG; the future of EPG advertising; and much more.

Broadcast #10: Kristen Fergason is VP of marketing at Maven Networks, a company that offers a software platform which allows content providers and brand marketers to create interactive broadband VOD channels (its customers include 20th Century Fox, Gemstar-TV Guide, Univision, Virgin Records, General Motors, PepsiCo, Gannett, Scripps Networks, and A&E Television Networks). The company recently launched an advertising platform which it bills as introducing a series of new, non-proprietary formats that are significantly more engaging than pre-roll ads (the currently dominant form of broadband video advertising), make for a better user experience, and deliver higher-value ad units for advertisers. In the interview, Fergason describes the new platform and the kinds of interactive advertising it enables; outlines Maven's product-development plans; and discusses the Internet TV Advertising Forum, an industry group that Maven and a number of other companies recently established in order to "solve the challenges and deficiencies associated with current online video advertising models" and to develop new standards and formats for interactive broadband video advertising.

Broadcast #9: Hans Fischmann is general manager of advanced media at Charter Media, the advertising arm of cable MSO, Charter Communications. Since he joined Charter Media in January, 2007, he and his team have launched over 600 interactive TV and VOD advertising campaigns. He describes the kinds of interactive TV advertising offered by Charter Media; provides statistics on the efficacy of the company's ITV ads; describes its efforts to market its ITV advertising capabilities; provides some thoughts on the cable industry ITV advertising initiative, "Project Canoe"; discusses "Did You See It?," a new channel Charter is launching that will be devoted to interactive TV advertising; and much more.

Broadcast #8: Peter Price, president and CEO of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, one of two organizations that are responsible for television's annual Emmy awards (the other is the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences), discusses, among other things, the relationship between the two Academies, and their ongoing legal dispute over the National Academy's awards for Advanced Media (which were presented Monday at CES 2008).

Broadcast #7: Upstate New York resident, James Cawley, whose background includes, among other things, a stint as an Elvis-impersonator, is the executive producer of Star Trek New Voyages (startreknewvoyages.com), a production company that produces original episodes of "Star Trek," based on the characters from that show's first season (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, etc.). Downloads of these hour-long, fan-generated broadband TV episodes have been in the multiple millions, and their audience base appears to be growing rapidly. Cawley shares his thoughts on producing original, fan-generated "Star Trek" programming for the Internet; describes the events that led to the formation of Star Trek New Voyages; discusses the company's relationship with CBS (the owner of the "Star Trek" franchise); provides a preview of new episodes and new characters that the company has in the pipeline (including "Star Trek's" first gay character); discusses the possibility of making the show interactive or building a social network around it; and much more.

Broadcast #6: Three high-profile figures from the interactive TV space--Patrick Donoghue, VP of ITV product management at Time Warner Cable; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks--provide a retrospective of the year in interactive TV, present their picks for the year's most important ITV stories, and predict the important ITV trends for 2008. Topics discussed include the rise of user-generated content; the demise of TMG; the significance of the top-secret interactive TV advertising initiative, "Canoe"; the emergence of big-budget broadband TV programming; EchoStar's purchase of Sling Media; DirecTV's purchase of ReplayTV; and much more.

Broadcast #5: Three senior executives from mobile interactive TV specialist, SinglePoint--president and CEO, Rich Begert; VP of industry relations, Doug Busk; and director of marketing, Philippe Poutonnet--discuss, among other things, the company's recent deal with NBC Universal. The deal will see SinglePoint providing mobile interactive/participation TV services for a range of NBC Universal's programming and channels, including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, USA Network, NBC Sports, and NBC News.

Broadcast #4: Steve Rosenbaum is founder and CEO of Magnify.net, a company that provides a new Web 2.0 service which allows end-users to create video galleries/channels complete with social networks. He discusses Magnify.net's service and the business model behind it; provides examples of how it is being used; outlines the company's current strategy and future plans; and more.

Broadcast #3: Brian Seth Hurst, a well-known figure in interactive TV circles, was recently elected as vice chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization behind the Primetime Emmys. His election marks the first time ever that a new media specialist has served in such a senior role at the Academy. Hurst discusses what his election says about the evolution of the Academy and of the television establishment in general; the significance of the ongoing writers' strike for the interactive and broadband TV industries; and much more.

Broadcast #2: Jodie McAfee, who was formerly SVP of corporate development and marketing at The Media Group (TMG), a high-profile interactive TV advertising and programming company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, discusses that company's demise; his new company, BoomerangiTV; the cable industry interactive TV advertising initiative known as "Project Canoe"; the current state of the ITV advertising industry in general; and more.

Broadcast #1: Louis Slothouber and Dan Levinson of BIAP discuss their company's technologies; the challenges involved in deploying the company's interactive TV applications (which include eBay on TV, Yellow Pages on TV, and Fantasy Football and Baseball Trackers); the company's patent portfolio; the current state of the cable industry; ITV standards; artificial intelligence; emerging market opportunities; and more.

up to headlines

ABOUT [itvt]

*Founded by Tracy Swedlow in November 1997
*Began Publishing June 1998
*Read in over 100 countries
*Demographics are provided upon request from qualified persons

[itvt] is an ITV/broadband advisory and media company which identifies new trends, business opportunities, and relationships within the interactive television broadband space.

[itvt] offers professional services, products, and programs to clients. These include our free email newsletter, focused analysis and advice sessions, in-depth research reports, a B2B portal Web site, networking and workshop events, dynamic online discussion groups, and interactive database resources.

Today, more than ever before, [itvt] believes it is imperative to develop dynamic, flexible, and robust interactiveTV platforms that allow us to learn from and talk about our world and the cultures in it in a free, constructive, and proactive manner.

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